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Roberto Berutti, a member of the cabinet of Janusz Wojciechowski, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, said on 01/04/2021 that the proposed colour-coded Nutri-Score labelling system should not be seen as the only way to assess the benefits of food for human health. Berutti criticized NutriScore during a public conference organised by the youth section of Italy’s centre-right party Forza Italia, stressing that his views on NutriScore were his personal views. According to Berutti, the introduction of NutriScore would lead to significant negative impacts and damage to the (Italian) agri-food sector. According to Berutti, NutriScore will damage several foods that are protected by PDOs (Protected Designations of Origin) and PGIs (Protected Geographical Indications), which would also be in direct conflict with the Commission's efforts to protect and promote foods with this designation. The European Commission plans to present a proposal for nutrition labelling in the fourth quarter of 2022, preceded by the publication of an impact assessment and a public stakeholder consultation. Berutti also said that the European Commission, including Executive Vice President Frans Timmermans, is heavily influenced by the ideas of major food companies, including Nestlé, Unilever, Mondeléz, and Danone. Berutti emphasized that if these companies are currently considered to be leaders in sustainability, he fears that in the future, their highly processed foods could be labelled "green" for "healthy" foods, jeopardizing many culture-based nutrition systems and tradition.
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The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) tested the content of pesticide residues in food - a total of 12 food products – apples, head cabbages, lettuce, peaches, spinach, strawberries, tomatoes, oat grain, barley grain, wine (red and white), cow’s milk and swine fat. Out of a total of 96,302 tested samples, 96.1% of foods met the set European residue limits. An additional test was performed on 12,579 samples, with 98% meeting the limits, 1% slightly exceeding the legal limit for pesticide residues in food, and for 1% of the samples tested, legal action was taken for violation of the law.
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On 31/03/2021, the European Commission published a working document evaluating the European Animal Welfare Strategy. The study assessed the fulfilment of the objectives of the strategy in the period 2012-2015; according to the results of the Commission, none of the objectives of the strategy has been fulfilled yet. The study focuses on several areas, including the transport of live animals, the cutting of pigtails, and the method of stunning animals before slaughter. According to the Commission, these three areas will also be the focus of a planned revision of European animal welfare legislation. The European Commission states in the document that although animal welfare strengthens during transport, long-distance transport, and transport at very high or low outdoor temperatures remain a challenge. Tail docking in pigs is a persistent practice in 26 of the 28 Member States, and despite a formal ban on this practice, it occurs in around 150 million pigs each year. The only two states that comply with the ban are Finland and Sweden. Following the publication of the document, European environmental organizations have already called on the European Commission to revise and strengthen European legislation on animal welfare.

Last week, German agriculture ministers reached agreement on the text of a draft national CAP Strategic Plan. The proposals will now wait for an agreement on the CAP reform in trilogues, then be amended if necessary, approved by Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Federal Government, and then sent to the European Commission for final approval. The ministers supported the allocation of 25% of the first pillar fund for the so-called eco-schemes and emphasized the important role of compliance with cross-compliance rules in the payment of other funds from the first pillar. Germany also supports the reallocation of funds from the first to the second pillar - 11% in 2024, 12.5% in 2025, and 15% in 2026. 5% of the funds should also be earmarked for environmental cross compliance, including support for the set-aside (the exclusion of land from fallow land, landscape features or flower belts should be a voluntary tool), and 2% of the funds could be used for coupled support for sheep, goats, and non-dairy cows. Germany will also support steps to achieve more diverse plantings - at least 10% should be occupied by legumes and at least five main fruits. Under the current proposal, Germany allocates 47% of CAP aid to environmental objectives. Wolfram Günter, Saxony's Minister for Agriculture (for the Greens), said that Germany would continue to work to ensure that 100% of CAP spending in the future went to meeting sustainability and public goods goals. Günter, who chaired the meeting of the Federal Ministers of Agriculture, also rejected support for mandatory capping of direct payments or the degressivity of direct payments. In addition, Germany will provide 2% of the envelope for direct payments to support young farmers, which will allow the provision of additional support to young farmers of up to €70 per hectare up to an area of up to 120 hectares. The agreement of the federal ministers was immediately criticized by Joachim Rukwied, president of the German agricultural organization DBV. According to Rukwied, a plan for a massive reallocation of funds from the first to the second pillar does not provide any guarantee that all these funds will go only to farmers, and this reallocation would drastically reduce the role that direct payments play in farmers' incomes - here, according to Rukwied, there would be a risk of a fall of up to 40%.
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On 30/03/2021, the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, met with representatives of the environmental climate movement "Fridays for the Future", led by Greta Thunberg. The subject of discussion was the CAP reform. Representatives of the Friday for the Future movement said that the reform had too many shortcomings in the wording of the current proposals, so they called for their withdrawal and complete overhaul. In addition, according to them, the proposals run counter to the objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement and the objectives of the European Green Deal. Frans Timmermans has not opposed the possibility of withdrawing CAP proposals in the past but during the meeting on 30/03/2021 he said that although linking the CAP to the objectives of the Europe Green Deal would not be easy, he still considered it feasible. Representatives of the movement also criticized the effects of trade agreements on the environment and climate, including the current EU trade agreement with Mercosur. Timmermans' next meeting with the Movement's representatives will take place during the spring of 2021.
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